Beebalms

And we plant a lot of wildflowers because we raise bees as well.

And he specifically sowed a whole bunch of specific flowers called Bee Balm and they came up and he was standing in the middle of the field and there were thousands of bees.

I mean thousands on the Bee Balm and he was stood there and he held his hands open like this and he'd been working with the hives and it was covered in like a honey residue and all the bees landed on his hands and he looked, it looked like a deity.

It was really cool to see him in the middle of a field of flowers he planted basically just with bees all over it.

It was really cool.

Bee balm, wild bergamot would be an example of that.

Monarda is a common name.

Hollow joe pieweed, which is Eutrochium fistulosum.

And the cup plant.

I mean, we even get problems with blue vervain, skullcap, and, you know, they get a little powdery mildew.

Bee balm, the Monardas.

So, you know, right.

So we just have to choose to pick the top parts or skip it one year.

vigorous.

But yeah, I'd say like the Minarda, the Rubina.

Oh, the Bealea Sagittaria.

It was all stuff I...

So, here's a couple that you might not have thought, but you might have, uh, said, "Yeah, that's a good one to use." But the joe-pye-weed, that one right there has a great hollow stem, and it, it's perfect for, uh, nesting type bees.

Uh, bee balm or Monarda is, uh, one, uh, that will help overwinter the beneficials.

Uh, milkweed or Asclepias, uh, the seed pods that are there, uh, and the stems will actually help, uh, both of those, the, the native insects and, uh, other beneficials.

Goldenrod and asters, those are, uh, good winter habitat and late season, uh, seed for the birds as well.

In the fall, monarch butterflies spend a lot of time building up their energy reserves by nectaring on goldenrods and asters.

Hummingbird clearwing moths, Hemaris thysbe, seem to adore wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa.

And the closely related snowberry clearwing, Hemaris diffinis, can be found nectaring on wild bergamot, common milkweed, blazing stars, and pasture thistle.

Both of these moths are large, beautiful, daytime-flying moths.

But there are literally hundreds of species of small butterflies and moths that nectar on native plants throughout the season.

My desk is situated so that I can see through and see that, and I'm looking at it now.

And one end of the border, the coneflowers and the Monarda have really taken over.

So they all die at the same time, you know? They, so it-

Mm-hmm